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Friday, June 22, 2012

Beating the heat and crowds travelling to Rome’s countryside

Halfway between Rome and Florence subsist the terrainthat was once the chosen summer
getaways for Medieval and Renaissance Cardinals and Popes, as well as the
heartland of the pre-Roman civilization known as the Etruscans (by which the
name Tuscany derives).

The area of Northern
Lazio that borders with Tuscany, defined politically as the Province of Viterbo,
is where the traditional conclave began
and the custom of locking up the Cardinals after papal history’s longest
election process that lasted 33 months.
The voting has now moved to the Sistine Chapel, along with 20,000
tourists per day. Hence the suggestion
to make Rome’s countryside your summer getaway as well.

Roughly 40 miles north of Rome or 100 miles south of
Florence, and even closer to the Civitavecchia port, several sites
in the Viterbo province offer refuge from the heat and crowds at the more
popular destinations where one can wait hours this time of year to see the
statue of David or the Coliseum. The grandeur
of the cities of Rome and Florence can be found, more authentically, perched on
hilltops surrounded by volcanic crater lakes and mountains, built on pre-Roman
walls and adornedwith medieval
castles and Renaissance villas.

Among the most famous sites in the area is the Farnese Villa
and garden at Caprarola.
The Farnese was a noble family from the region with one member who became
among the most important Popes of the Counter Reformation. He built a palace in Rome too, now home of
the French embassy and thus inaccessible to the public. Inside the villa in Caprarola are fine Renaissance
frescoes by the contemporaries of Raphael and Michelangelo.

Breaking away from the Renaissance tradition of precise and
orderly architecture and garden design, Duke Vicino Orsini built likely the world’s
first amusement park at Bomarzo in the 16th Century. His “Sacred Grove” is now a spectacle of nature
that amazes kids and adults alike.

Rick Steves made the area famous after suggesting the small medieval
village of Civita, not far from the birthplace of St. Bonaventure. However Mary Jane Cryan, yet another Buffalo
native that has made Italy her home, is a leading scholar on the region and has
published several scholarly guide books on the ancient, medieval, and Renaissance
sites in the area and deeper connections between central Italy and the rest of
the world. She is the author of Etruria, and Travels to Tuscany and Northern Lazio. As an added incentive to tours of the area based on her insightful research she opens her restored 18th Century palace in the Medieval city of Vetralla for a typical Italian lunch either beside her stone fireplace or on her terrace surrounded by a quintessential Italian landscape of rolling hills, this allowing visitors not only to explore historic grandeur, but live it in modern ways.

Consider a day trip or an overnight in Northern Lazio, a short road trip outside Rome's city walls en route to Florence and Tuscany, bypassing a roadside Roman theater with no waiting line...and discover the roots of Rome at Etruscan archaeological sites. An ideal alternative for cruise ship arrivals at the Civitavecchia port, rather than the treck to Rome with all the other members of your ship, are the grande castles, palaces and parks once belonging to heads of the Papal state to be found in the Viterbo province.

Day trip tours on seaside routes through bucolic landscapes of olive and chestnut trees can include visiting the Etruscan necropolis of Tarquinia with the oldest testimony of Italian fresco painting dating back to the 5th Century B.C., or an excusion to any of the artistic parks and villas in the region such as Villa Lante, Farnese or Bomarzo.

Home-cooked typical Italian dinner made up of severalcourses from archival family recipes accompanied with a cooking demonstration in “Mamma’s Casa”, the kitchen of a Roman family located in the affluent residentialneighborhood of Parioli.

Taste Trastevere

Explore the tastes of Trastevere and Campo di Fiori finished with an annotated lunch or dinner in one of Rome's most historic Slow Food restaurants.

at the Villa GiuliaVilla Giulia National EtruscanMuseum, housed in a Renaissance Villa with thousands of Etruscan materialssuch as bronzes and pottery, as well sarcophagi and tomb re-installments with fine fresco paintings.

Borghese GalleryThe best of Italian 17th Century masterpieces includingCaravaggio and Bernini, hundreds of antiquities, aBaroque palace, and a grande public park

Traveling with a private driver, journey 30 miles north of Rome to the Bandidaccia necropolis in the city of Cerveteri, the largest burial site in the Mediterranean. Tour an extensive collection of unique tombs modeled on and decorated as domestic architecture lined along routes designed as a city plan. Include also the option to dine along the seaside in a Renaissance palace La Posta Vecchia, built on top of the Etruscan port.

Rome's St. John Lateran Cathedral In-Depth

Discover the art and relics of Rome's official cathedral, seat of the Bishop of Rome, i.e. the Pope! Tour covers impressive artworks of the church's interior, the former Papal residences now home to a Vatican History Museum, the Lateran Baptistry, and the famous "Holy Steps" believed to be those the Jesus ascended to meet his fate in Jerusalem.

Wine excursion-Tuscany

Journey by car a couple of hours outside the bustle of Rome into the landscape of Tuscany. Witness rolling hills, manicured vineyards and stop for wine tastings and cultural visits in a couple picturesque Medieval Tuscan cities, such as San Gimignano and Siena.

Villas of Tivoli

Journey 20 miles outside Rome with a private driver and discover 2 of most spectacular and well maintained villas from the Renaissance and antiquity. First tour the beautifully manicured Renaissance gardens of Villa D'Este and saunter down the lane of 100 fountains. Then visit hundreds of acres of Hadrian's Villa meant to be the emperor's refuge from the bustle of Rome that now serves as yours while you get lost in a series of ruins of bath complexes, temples, and residences.

Scavenger Hunt for kids-"Safari d'Arte"

Designed for curious elementary aged kids, covering several different itineraries including main city highlights, while participating in an interactive scavenger hunt searching for clues at each main attraction with book and map in hand.

*Please also consider private transportation with these tours as well as airport and cruise ship transports, both of which can be arranged with professional drivers.

*Also consider any customized tour you can imagine focusing on the specifics of Ancient, Renaissance, and Baroque Rome.